We have received news of the assassination of three young members of the Inga Indigenous people in Putumayo. Elkin Farit Sigindioy Chindoy, Armando Mutumbajoy Muchavisoy and Jaime Alirio Becerra Chindoy, between 22 and 24 years of age, who belonged to the community of Oso Cocha-Yunguillo in the Municipality of Mocoa-Putumayo, were viciously murdered by gunfire on 6 October 2018 by unknown actors. The Inga people of Colombia, who live in Caquetá, Cauca, Putumayo and Nariño, are facing physical and cultural extinction because of the armed conflict, drug trafficking, mining, oil exploitation and indiscriminate damage to the Andean and Amazonian forests.

The original denunciation of the murders is in Spanish on the ONIC website.

We have received news of renewed death threats against our friends in The Wayuu Women’s Force – Fuerza de Mujeres Wayuu-Sütsüin Jiyeyuu Wayuu (FMW-SJW). FMW-SJW are among the more prominent critics of Cerrejon Coal (owned by London-listed multinationals Anglo American, BHP and Glencore). They report receiving threats from notorious paramilitary organisation Águilas Negras (Black Eagles) for “hindering the development of the country” – a coded reference to objecting to mining and other large-scale economic projects.

In August I participated in a delegation to the province of La Guajira in Colombia, organised by US-based Witness for Peace. We visited communities affected by the Cerrejon Coal mine, owned by London-listed mining multinationals Anglo American, BHP and Glencore.

Join us 13-20 October for eight days of art, discussion and protest with leading environmental human rights defenders visiting London from Latin America to share their experiences resisting the world’s largest mining company, which has been devastating communities with impunity for decades. For more information about our Colombian visitors and what they need see below:

We denounce the systematic persecution and State terrorism which the Colombian government is carrying out against popular movements, human rights defenders, community and indigenous leaders, throughout the country.

In the name of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the concurrent international pacts and conventions, the internal norms that govern the rights of indigenous, black and campesino peoples of Colombia and with respect of the Colombian National Constitution, which protects our right to life, we, the human rights organizations and social movements, whose names appear below, solicit you, as the maximum leader of the Armed Forces of Colombia, to halt orders given to the riot squads, ie the Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron (Escuadrón Móvil Anti Disturbios) ESMAD, to continue violent and abusive attacks against comunities who at present find themselves in the National Solidarity Mobilisations or National Minga (Minga Nacional).

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London Mining Network

The London Mining Network (LMN) is an alliance of human rights, development and environmental groups. We pledge to expose the role of companies, funders and government in the promotion of unacceptable mining projects.